I never ever water until I see roots:).

Succulents w/ no roots shouldn't be watered at all.

Different types of succulents are propagated differently, so it matters WHAT you're trying to grow. Not all succulents will reproduce this way, so pls tell us what plants we're discussing; if you don't know show us pix & we can usually tell.

Watering a leaf one is trying to propagate can likely cause it to rot. Again it matters SPECIFICALLY WHICH PLANTS we're talking about pls.

I'm not sure what most of them are since I just found them laying around a hardware store but I know I have a bunch of "chocolate soldiers" and a few echeveria setosa arrows also two crassula ovata gollums

And a couple from that one which I think is to small to identify

Also if anyone knows on average how long it may take for a leaf to grow roots please share but I know every plant is different. Mine have been propagating for about a week now ( I'm not expecting any growth soon)

There are too many variables to give you an exact answer. Light, temperature, humidity, soil and of course which plant your talking about all have to be taken into account. My rule of thumb is if it is not dying then just be patient. I often use a spray bottle to just moisten the soil when it gets very dry. Cuttings (succulent) should not be watered the first week any way.

I'll take a shot at the how long......anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. The key is if the leaves are not turning yellow, brown or clear, or getting soft, keep waiting. If one of 2 turn brown or translucent or mushy throw those out so they don't infect the others. All the leaves you have look like varieties that prop easily, so you'll do fine as long as you don;t water before you see roots, even then be sparing with it:-)

Alright everybody sounds good. I'll be sure to keep all of your advice in mind. Thank you!!!

Gosh I must be tired, just got in from work, wrote a whole response & lost it, ackkk!

Thx for posting the pix, they do confirm all those are succulents which CAN be prop'ped by leaves.

Lisa's comments abt 2 - 6 wks seem quite right.

Sammer's comments while trying to help, aren't so applicable as Xmas cacti & holiday cacti are very different plants than arid land succulents. They are cactus plants which come from tropical rain forests & high humidity, often growing on other plants (trees) not even growing in soil. So it's rather like comparing apples & oranges given such different settings.

That last pic: are those clumps of moss of some kind? Pls. remove them, just invite rot & decay.

I wouldn't mist at all, esp since those containers don't appear to have drainage holes. You'll likely see roots first, then baby leaves. Those baby leaves will be the best indicators that rooting has occurred.

Pls. don't pick them up to check, or make the common mistake of tugging at them to check, even if gently. Just try to forget abt them for a while & before you know it, you'll start to see the baby leaves.

You're well on your way, enjoy!

Euphorbias can take months

The kalanchoe leaves, the fuzzy ones, will root very easily. I have one leave that has put out what amounts to a small plant from leaf, and I've watered ONCE in about four months. You really can just leave them be, and let them do their thing.

Update if anyone is reading. Today March 3 I noticed the smallest roots on two of my leaves!!!!! I feel like an accomplished succulent mommy! If the roots are very little should I water them a bit?

If these were mine I would let the roots get a little longer. Once they start digging into the soil real good I would give them a drink. They use the nutrients and water from the old leaf:). I personally think if you deprive them of water they will start to search for it. Therefore longer stronger roots. If they're nice and content because they're getting what they want why would they need to grow longer stronger roots. That's just what I think:).

Ya that's what I thought because isn't the leaf there for a reason?I'm definitely going to let them grow out a little longer. Thanks Kara!!

lisasfbay, that is interesting. I may try this in the spring!

Sans

Are you referring to kalanchoe tip above? I have Fang that got a tear/hole in one of the leaves and there is a new plantlet growing right there:

For most plants, you need healthy & whole leaf, but kalanchoes are crazy easy to propagate...

I need to try that Lisa. Kalenchoes are the one succulent I can get babies from any part of the leaf. I split a leaf in half and get babies from the torn areas.

I am definitely going to do some experiments tomorrow!! Thank you for the advice!!!!

I haven't done it, but I suspect that if you took a razor and put tiny slices along both sides of the leaf you could get 8 or 10 plants off of each leaf. This might work on all the coll fuzzy K. that prop easily, but just one per leaf normally. Kinda like the Mother of thousands etc. that prop from every little bump on their serrated leaf edges... I wonder if you could make a natural rooting hormone from crushed Kalanchoe leaves/stems? Like making rooting water from chopped up willow stems. Anybody know??? Just being geeky and curious...

Ya a bunch of babies form one leaf sounds AMAZING just think of how much money you would save on that plant. I don't know much about rooting hormones so I can't answer that one...

Rina, is that Fang one of the ones that gets really big? I've had trouble propagating the large hairy kalanchoes. I beheaded 2 of them, they were about 3 feet tall, leaves like dinner plates, stem the size of my forarm, After beheading one head didn;t root, shriveled up instead, and neither rootstock piece set pups. I also had a small K. beharensis "Compacta", same thing, beheaded it and the head did root eventually, but has not grown at all, many months later. The rootstock still has not set pups....maybe I should try to prop both of these by injuring a leaf still on the mother....I have tried cuttings and leaf props from both, no luck.

Lisa, I had two huge Fang leaves that I just stuck into peatless C&S soil. Well let's just say they both grew tons of roots, but no baby plants emerged from the soil. That's great and all, but I don't want a leaf plant;). So I split the two leaves into a couple pieces. BAM baby Fang plants! Those Kalenchoes are strange prolific plants;).

Lisa

Yes, that is the 'big' Fang. It probably never gets that big here in much colder zone(maybe it would if grown in heated GH?) but it is about 20" tall. I propagated leaf just by leaving it on top of gritty and few plantlets are growing:

The one growing on the leaf in photo in my previous post is on the leaf still attached to original plant. I did not behead Fang, maybe I'll this Spring. Want to make sure I have replacement plants before I try, in case it doesn't work (you just scared me, haha).

I propagate from leaves just by leaving them on top of gritty, or even just on a tray, and forgetting about them. More fussing around - less success, at least in my experience. I do not check them to see if they are growing roots, nor I spray them until there are actual plants with roots. I know some ppl recommend spritzing-spraying-misting, but I find that more leaves rot that way.

I beheaded Copper spoons sometimes in beginning of Oct; left it on a shelve and here it is on Nov 13 - I potted it that day:. It was out of any substrate for at least 3weeks and probably 4 or longer, I didn't mark exact date of decapitating:

Nika

Sorry for sidetracking your thread...at least it is still about propagation :)

Oh it's fine your plants sound really cool!!

How long may it take if for a plant to grow from a wound in the leaf? Around the same as a regular leaf? Just wondering!

Nika

For me, I was about the same. But many plants will not grow from wounded leaf, so be aware of that.

Ya I only purposely wounded a few of my kalanchoe leaves

Kara, wow, that's cool to know. I've had a lot of plants do that, roots come out of the leaf, but no plants ever come from the roots, I'l have to beat up my K. leaves to try that. Rina, thanks for all that, whenever I have beheaded big hairy kalanchoe I regret it. Seems like my heads lose size and take forever to get back to original size, then the rootstock doesn;t produce much before it shrivels up. Maybe they do better somewhere with more heat, or even more even temps between day and night. Close to the Pacific here, so might are almost always cool, 50-60 even if it 70-90 during the day.

Personally I am fascinated by all things propagation, I know there are a lot of things to know, technical info about hormones, temp. preferences, hours of light etc. about each individual plant. This is one of the few times I feel like my mom may have been right about college....a PhD in horticulture would be pretty handy about now:-)

I'll just have to do the best I can with my dual PhD's in WillingToGetDirty and GardeningAtNight.

I wish I could Garden at night! Especially in the summer;).